SWE Senate Updates

I hope the end of the school year is going well for you! The SWE Senate has been busy, and I have a few updates to share.

Cathy Pieronek
I’m sure most of you have already seen and/or heard that Cathy Pieronek, Region H Senator, Region Conference Advisor, and Notre Dame SWE Advisor, passed away on April 9th. I had the opportunity to serve with Cathy this past year. I enjoyed working with her and respected her a great deal. We will all really miss her.

FY15 Annual SWE Senate Meeting
The agenda for the FY15 Annual SWE Senate Meeting included, among other things, Motion S-1501 (Member Removal), an update from the Strategic Initiatives Committee, and a presentation on and discussion about rebranding efforts.

Motion S-1501
Motion S-1501 proposed a bylaws amendment to clarify that SWE membership can be revoked not only for failure to pay dues, but also if a member is found by the Ethics Committee to have violated the Code of Conduct. The motion passed, and the bylaw now reads as follows:

Section 4.B.Any member who fails to pay dues according to the established schedule shall be dropped from the Society’s membership register. A member may be disciplined or removed in accordance with the procedures outlined in the “Procedures for Review of SWE Member Conduct,” which shall be kept updated on the SWE website. Amendments to these procedures may be proposed by the board of directors or the ethics committee, for approval by the Senate.

Strategic Initiatives
The FY15 Strategic Initiative focused on how SWE can better support small business members and improve its relationship with small businesses. Members employed by companies with less than 500 employees (which is the small business size standard established by the U.S. Small Business Administration) were surveyed regarding membership, professional development, awards, and networking. The results will be used to try to develop new tools and programs that will be helpful to small business members. It was also specifically noted that the needs of entrepreneurs may not be identical to the needs of small businesses.

The Strategic Initiatives Committee has been soliciting ideas for FY16 and will select the next topic in late May.

Brand Messaging and Identity
SWE chose to work with the David James Group (SWE’s in-house marketing agency for the last eight years) for its rebranding efforts. Results include a revised brand positioning statement and a proposed new logo:

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women in engineering and technology. To ensure SWE members reach their full potential as engineers and leaders, the Society offers unique opportunities to network, provides professional development and shapes public policy. SWE champions the value of diversity and inspires girls to become engineers in order to expand the engineering profession’s ability to improve the quality of life for billions of people worldwide.

Pictured from left to right: Cathy Pieronek, Kalyani Mallela, and Jamie Sanderson.

The David James Group explained that the gear has been re-imagined and is more stylized and less literal which removes any limitations about the gear not representing all of the engineering disciplines; that the three sections of the logo visually tie to the tagline, Aspire / Advance / Achieve; that the acronym is featured because it is how most of the members and supporters refer to SWE; and that the acronym approach will make the logo more easily understood globally.

Additional discussion about rebranding and the proposed new logo will follow in another post.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions about any of these updates.